Crappie tournaments

[GABoy]

There is no blast offs for since you can be on the water anytime you wish, just cant start before a certain time. One nice thing about CAST, CrappieMasters, and CrappieUSA tournaments. Our club tournaments are like bass tournament, everyone takes off at the same time. Quite a fun deal with boats going each direction. Especially when they head the same direction you are, makes you wonder if they are headed to the same spot.

There is a spot on Truman Lake, if anyone is familar with it. Lots of bass tournaments go out of Bucksaw ramp. As you head down the lake there is a very narrow gap that you can use a short cut if you know the spot. It will cut about 5-10 minutes of your run. What is funny is some boats will fast idle through the spot, others try to run full tilt. Some near crashs happen at this spot, and it happens almost the same time every saturday morning during the summer.

I would like to see that....not necessarily be involved, but watching would be fun!

[england]

Well folks here is my two cents on this subject.
Everybody on this web site should enter at least one of the national crappie tournements. Crappie USA or Crappie Masters has a local event close to most folks. My partner and I thought we were pretty good at this crappie fishing stuff.So we entered a Crappie USA tournement on Grenada lake Mississippi. This lake is about 50 miles from my house.We practiced hard on our fishing for months before this tourny.We were going to give these pros a run for there money.We pre fished the two days before from sun up to sun down,And had four good areas for good fish.When tournement day came we were ready, confident, and started fishing at 6:30 am just knowing we were going to well. About three hours into it we have not caught a big fish, and we thought we would have to catch at least two or three big ones to make a good showing with a seven fish limit. Well we paniced, then we ran to the bank to try and catch seven good males, and we did just that. We wieghed in our seven fish limit at just under ten pounds,we knew that we were not going to win,but we thought that we did ok. The winning team wieghed in 20.5 pounds with seven fish and set a new record for pounds per fish at 2.8 pounds. There were 34 teams I think in the pro division and we placed 32nd. These guys are good ,they are PROFESSIONALS. I now know the meaning of the word. So if yall think your good, go against these guys one time and they will show you just how good you are.
This was very fun for us, we are looking foward to another buttkickin next year.

[TAE73]

Just remember when fishing for tournaments, you are not looking to find alot of fish. You are fishing for 10 to 15 big bites, they are won by quality not quanity.

I think I would have entered in the amateur division my first time out, there is a reason why they have a pro and amateur divisions.

[Moose1am]

No but the guy that won the 2002 and 2003 spring Crappie USA tournaments prefished out of a john boat and did mighty good. Sound transmits through water 4 times faster than in air. So any noise that is created in water travels pretty far and is easily heard by the fish. Even small pressure waves created by a boat approaching might be picked up by the fish's lateral lines.

A kayak or cannon with a paddle would be much quieter than a bass boat with a 65lb thrust trolling motor and a depth sounder sending out a sound pulse ever 1/40th of a second.

I have always wondered how well the crappie or any fish for that matter can hear. What frequencies do they hear. Can they hear the sonar sound pulses in the water. I know that humans can't hear those low frequency sounds but how do we really know if the fish can or can't hear them.

It took us years of research to figure out that Elephants hear in very low frequency sound waves and use these very low frequency sound waves to communicte with each other over tens of miles.

We think that whales also can sing or communicate with each over over the vastness of the ocean.

But even if the fish can hear the sound pulses from the depth sounders transducer they may not be alarmed but it or know what is coming their way. They are not called fish for nothing. They still are on the lower runs of the evolutionary scales.

If I was told right , someone did win the Crappie USA Tournament at Lake Monroe ( Indiana) last year out of a canoe .

[whizkids]

A point of clarification: In Crappie USA all fish presented for weighin must be released back into the lake alive. If a lake limit is 30, seven can be weighed in and released and 23 kept for the table. This would of course mean the largest are released, but that not all fish caught in a tournament or in practice are released.

[GABoy]

Well folks here is my two cents on this subject.
Everybody on this web site should enter at least one of the national crappie tournements. Crappie USA or Crappie Masters has a local event close to most folks. My partner and I thought we were pretty good at this crappie fishing stuff.So we entered a Crappie USA tournement on Grenada lake Mississippi. This lake is about 50 miles from my house.We practiced hard on our fishing for months before this tourny.We were going to give these pros a run for there money.We pre fished the two days before from sun up to sun down,And had four good areas for good fish.When tournement day came we were ready, confident, and started fishing at 6:30 am just knowing we were going to well. About three hours into it we have not caught a big fish, and we thought we would have to catch at least two or three big ones to make a good showing with a seven fish limit. Well we paniced, then we ran to the bank to try and catch seven good males, and we did just that. We wieghed in our seven fish limit at just under ten pounds,we knew that we were not going to win,but we thought that we did ok. The winning team wieghed in 20.5 pounds with seven fish and set a new record for pounds per fish at 2.8 pounds. There were 34 teams I think in the pro division and we placed 32nd. These guys are good ,they are PROFESSIONALS. I now know the meaning of the word. So if yall think your good, go against these guys one time and they will show you just how good you are.
This was very fun for us, we are looking foward to another buttkickin next year.

My partner and I have fished in the Amateur division this entire season, but I believe we are past the cut-off limit in winnings, so we will be moving up to the Semi-Pro division next year....that should be a good time!!!

We had a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 8th, and 23rd. We still have the Regionals and the Classic to fish for this season, and then immediately start the next season at Oconee in October. That will probably be our first Semi-Pro event....unless we are still under that winnings amount that will allow us to stay in Amateur.

I can't wait!

[Tim The Lippa Rippa Mon]

Everybody on this web site should enter at least one of the national crappie tournements. Crappie USA or Crappie Masters has a local event close to most folks.....
My partner and I thought we were pretty good at this crappie fishing stuff.
This was very fun for us, we are looking foward to another buttkickin next year.

You have a great attitude England. And yes, their are really some top notch pros out there. When I first started tournament fishing, I thought I was gonna whup everybody cuz I always significantly outfished all my friends & relatives. I got the same eye opener too! Man!! This lake has fish that size in it!?!? I was severely outdone. It really can be fun getting beat though. Especially when you learn something from it.

Joe Miller just started another Pro Crappie tournament circuit just for the state of MS this year. His Classic, (I'm qualified for it already) will be on Sardis Lake this Fall. If you are interested, I can put you in touch with him about his coming qualifier events.

I would also like to mention C.A.S.T. - This is an excellent run association. I would suggest checking out some of their tournaments in the future as well. Read all about it Here:

Full baskets and big bites to ya. Tell them Rippa, or Big Tim sent ya's! :D

<,"}/>{ Rippa

[GABoy]

Man...it's too bad CAST is only out in the midwest, I am always looking for some good tournaments to fish.

Yep, you really do have to have a good attitude to fish tournaments....because there are some fine fishermen across the nation and they really can show you a thing or two about how to be a good sport...hee hee!!!

[TAE73]

I would also like to mention C.A.S.T. - This is an excellent run association. I would suggest checking out some of their tournaments in the future as well. Read all about it Here:

Full baskets and big bites to ya. Tell them Rippa, or Big Tim sent ya's! :D

<,"}/>{ Rippa

Tim, you coming down to Mark Twain this weekend for CAST? If you do let me know how you did, I hope you are not plaqued with all the small fish that have been caught lately. Good luck to ya.

[Moose1am]

Eager Beaver:

While all you said is true .. it's also true that those same guys would be fishing anyway on their own. Many days on KY Lake you can see lots of fishing boats out on the lake and they are not competing in a timed tournament. They are competing for the same fish however but they are not rushed.


Here is what I don't like about tournament fishing. The time element makes people do things that they normally would not do. Add some money into the mix and they may do even crazier things. NOTE: I said MAY as not everyone acts crazy when money is on the line but some guys do. Money makes the world go round but it also causes people to do crazy things like rob banks or comment forgery.

I don't mind guys having fun fishing tournaments but I personally would rather not have to compete like that. First I just don't have the resourse to compete. Second I would rather take my time out on the lake and fish for a week and relax. I am older too so the excitement of a tournament is not good for guys with high blood pressure like me. I may have been more inclined to fish tournaments when I was younger. But back then they didn't have that many fishing tournaments.

Fishing tournaments is for guys with money or guys or gals that want to devote most of their finances to fishing the tournament trail. It's not for everyone.

Now what you said about the business in an area is very true. The tournaments will bring in new money to an area and the financial experts say that the money turns over 5 times in that same community so it's very good for any community to get motel rentals up.

I have competed in three fishing tournaements in my intire life. One was a friendly bass fishing tournament help by the Purdue University bass fishing club. They let me fish for free and I took out a student with me for the day. The students can't keep boats at Purdue very easily so they depend on volunteers to take them out on the lake for a day. My fraternity brother started the Purdue Bass Fishing Club long after I left the campus and I thought it would be a good thing to help the club out. I did that in Sept 2003. I have fished two other tournaments and both were for Dave Summers. Those were the Teezer crappie fishing tournaments. I caught a few nice crappie on the first tournament and finished way down on the list. The last tournament I didn't catch a signal fish. But I learned about where not to go on KY Lake when the winds blow out of the NE. LOL I took Jeff out in my boat that cold windy November day and could not reach the spot I wanted to fish due to the winds and high waves. It was just too dangerous for my small 16 ft boat. I could see the spot but I could not get closer than 200 yards to it without being bucketed by the winds and waves. So I ended up fishless. The fish were in deeper water and the only fishable water in Sulfur Creek that day was back in 6 to 8ft of water. By the time we decided to move to a new spot we had run out of time as I got lost on the way back on the back country roads and killed another 30 mintues trying to figure out where I was going. I don't like that kind of pressure and will not do that again for a while. Well at least not until next Year. LOL I am going to learn more about this area (BIG SANDY) in the next few weeks and hopefully I can be better prepared for the next tournament down there. I just hope that Richard Williams gets his back healed up before then. I know it's giving him lots of trouble and I hate to hear that. He ran the last two fishing tournaemnts for Dave and I just hope that he continues doing that. It sure changed my life. I really do think the world of Richard and want to see him stick around and continue to work with Crappie USA and the Teezer Tournaments. They are such fun and they bring guys together from all across the country and that is a very good thing.

Touneyment fishing pays into the resourse through the fishing license and bait and tackle that is bought locally at each site. The money is used to help the fish and game in the state through various projects. Fish stocking is one that the states do. The local economy is also enhansed by the fishermen paying motels and resturants and other establishments while they are in the area. Ask the local merchants what they think of the touneyment, There isn't to many that don't want them to be held in their area. Guys that take the family along while the guy's fish the women shop.